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Title: Ha'iku Stairs plan calls for hiker donations
Source:
Honolulu Advertiser Newspaper; Honolulu, Hawaii
Author: Advertiser Staff
Date: October 8, 2004
Up to 100 hikers would visit the Ha'iku Stairs on most days under a plan to finally open the long-forbidden trail, according to a report on costs for managing access to the stairs.
A $3 donation requested from each hiker could generate about $90,000 per year if the stairs are open six days a week and attract 75 to 100 hikers per day, according to the report by city managing director Ben Lee.
The revenue could help offset the $158,000 annual cost of security guards and portable toilets, the reports says.
The 3,922-step metal "Stairway to Heaven" up the Ko'olau Range to the summit of Pu'u Keahiakahoe has been off-limits to the public since 1987. But many hikers illegally climb it every week after trespassing through state land that borders a residential neighborhood in Ha'iku Valley.
Some of the visitors have generated complaints from neighbors about parking, traffic, trespassing, garbage and the lack of restrooms. A City Council panel last week blocked a plan to allow access to the stairs through the neighborhood, but it agreed to revisit the subject later.
Some neighbors back an alternative plan to access the stairs through a trail beside the state psychiatric hospital and Windward Community College. The city spent $875,000 to renovate the stairs in 2002.
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